Brooklyn, NY – Presented by HITN TV, the ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival is designed to support emerging Latinx filmmakers and creatives in their endeavors. It informs, inspires, and elevates the voices of those who struggle for visibility on screen and behind the camera by providing a platform for young changemakers to express themselves through art, creativity, and innovation.

“This initiative aims to shine a light on compelling, untold Latinx stories. We want to showcase the talents, vision, history, and culture of historically marginalized and underrepresented communities; in this way, the festival gives young Latinos a platform to express their perspectives through film,” said Lina Sands, Director of Marketing at HITN.

“We’re excited to be back and look forward to welcoming submissions for our rescheduled 2021 inaugural edition,” added Luis Alejandro Molina, ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival Director.  “This festival’s theme speaks to what brought us to this moment in time and invites us to imagine a future where we are all seen, heard, and most importantly, counted. Beyond promoting diversity and inclusion, the festival and its series of “Conversations Among X” virtual panels are designed to invite discussion and reflection among the larger Latinx content-creating community about the issues that affect us today. Whether you are an amateur filmmaker in college or a high school student who aspires to make movies one day, we want to hear your story.”

Beyond the film festival, the ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival presents a tri-weekly series of networking and entertaining virtual panels featuring well-known, award-winning filmmakers, artists, and creatives - all sharing their stories, experiences, and insights to help young Latinx looking to grow in the industry.

The ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival hosts short films that feature a Latinx in a creative lead position either in front or behind the camera. High school and college students are invited to direct, shoot and create their films to enter the festival. English or Spanish-language works of fiction or nonfiction are welcome. Films must be 30 minutes or less in length.

To date, the ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival is being presented in collaboration with Northeastern Illinois University, Roberto Clemente Community Academy, Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Centro – Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, NALIP, Frank Sinatra High School, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, St. Francis College, and the University of Houston.

¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Festival is now accepting submissions for its first annual festival, set to debut from Sept. 18 to Oct. 16, 2021. Previously scheduled to take place on April 2020, the online film festival had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

About HITN:

HITN-TV is a leading Spanish-language media company that offers educational and cultural programming for the whole family.  It reaches more than 44 million homes in the United States and Puerto Rico through DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse, AT&T TV, DISH Network, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Mediacom, CenturyLink, Prism and   Altice, Liberty Cable & Claro (Puerto Rico).  Download the "HITN GO" Everywhere app available on Apple, Android, Apple TV, and Roku® with a wired subscription. For more information, visit: www.hitn.org and follow @HITNtv  on social platforms.